‘NCIS’: Vance Takes a Big Step in His Relationship With Lena & Knight Gives an Update on Palmer Relationship

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[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for NCIS Season 22 Episode 2 “Foreign Bodies.”]

A murder mystery in the middle of diplomatic talks with Venezuela makes life complicated for the NCIS team—and for a couple of them, their personal lives aren’t any easier.

First of all, the latest episode offers an update on Knight (Katrina Law) and Palmer’s (Brian Dietzen) relationship in the sense that there is no update. After McGee (Sean Murray) comments that “working alongside your romantic partner can get tricky,” Knight agrees: “Preaching to the converted.” When Torres (Wilmer Valderrama) asks what’s going on between her and Palmer, she says, “No story. We’re friends, I think. We’re good. We haven’t really talked about it yet.”

That fits with what Law told us after the premiere about Episode 4. “Knight and Jimmy have been working together for weeks, if not months at this point, but yet they haven’t spoken about anything and now all of a sudden they are in a situation where they are sitting next to each other with no way out and the conversation needs to be had,” she teased. “There is a very definitive moment where Knight opens up the door to say, do you want to stay this way or would you like something to possibly change? And Jimmy has a reaction that kind of breaks her heart a little bit.”

Meanwhile, to Vance’s (Rocky Carroll) surprise, Lena (Marem Hassler), his “casual girlfriend,” as Knight calls her—”They meet up at world conferences once a year and hook up”—is in town for the diplomatic talks. Since he’s hiding information about the ongoing case (to keep anything from jeopardizing the talks), he brushes off her invitation to her hotel room. She thinks he’s upset she didn’t tell him about joining the talks. (He would’ve liked the heads up, he admits.) She’s been busy, she explains, including getting an apartment in New York, which is news to him. She was going to tell him, but she didn’t want him to feel like she was invading his space by moving closer. They don’t tell each other everything, but they did agree to no strings. Of course things get even more complicated when it turns out Lena’s been hiding the real reason she’s in D.C., related to the case.

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Katrina Law Teases What's Next for Knight and Palmer After 'NCIS' Season 22 Premiere Decision

Later, Vance stops by to see Parker (Gary Cole) at home—love that that friendship continues!—and asks him if anything went through his mind when he was stuck on the ship bleeding out; both had near-death experiences last year and never talked about it. “I had some thoughts,” Parker admits, with a flash of that young girl, Lily. About? “Not sure,” he says. “Still unpacking it.” (We hope he unpacks that a bit faster—we want answers about Lily!)

Vance, after he was shot, thought about “time. How much I got left. How do I want to spend it? Who do I want to spend it with?” Parker wonders if he’s thinking about making more of a commitment to Lena. “I was, but now there’s so much baggage between us. Too many secrets. Dishonesty,” Vance admits. “To tell you the truth, Parker, I don’t really know what I want.” Parker thinks he does and suggests he start by being more honest with himself.

That (and Lena being kidnapped) leads to the end of the episode, in which Vance and Lena have dinner. She apologizes for keeping things from him, and he gets honest with her. “I don’t want to be in a casual relationship with you anymore. … I want more,” he tells her. “I want to spend more time with you, at your apartment in New York or my house in D.C. when you’re here, make a real schedule. Unless that’s too much for you and I just made a complete ass of myself.” She assures him, “No, I was hoping you would say that.” She already made him a key. With that, they toast “to us.”

What do you think of Vance and Lena’s relationship? Let us know in the comments section below.

NCIS, Mondays, 9/8c, CBS